Industrial Biography

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Among the important uses to which this hammer has of late years been
applied, is the manufacture of iron plates for covering our ships of
war, and the fabrication of the immense wrought-iron ordnance of
Armstrong, Whitworth, and Blakely. But for the steam-hammer, indeed,
it is doubtful whether such weapons could have been made. It is also
used for the re-manufacture of iron in various other forms, to say
nothing of the greatly extended use which it has been the direct
means of effecting in wrought-iron and steel forgings in every
description of machinery, from the largest marine steam-engines to
the most nice and delicate parts of textile mechanism. "It is not too
much to say," observes a writer in the Engineer, "that, without
Nasmyth's steam-hammer, we must have stopped short in many of those
gigantic engineering works which, but for the decay of all wonder in
us, would be the perpetual wonder of this age, and which have enabled
our modern engineers to take rank above the gods of all mythologies.
There is one use to which the steam-hammer is now becoming
extensively applied by some of our manufacturers that deserves
especial mention, rather for the prospect which it opens to us than
for what has already been actually accomplished. We allude to the
manufacture of large articles in DIES. At one manufactory in the
country, railway wheels, for example, are being manufactured with
enormous economy by this means. The various parts of the wheels are
produced in quantity either by rolling or by dies under the hammer;
these parts are brought together in their relative positions in a
mould, heated to a welding heat, and then by a blow of the steam
hammer, furnished with dies, are stamped into a complete and all but
finished wheel. It is evident that wherever wrought-iron articles of
a manageable size have to be produced in considerable quantities, the
same process may be adopted, and the saving effected by the
substitution of this for the ordinary forging process will doubtless
ere long prove incalculable. For this, as for the many other
advantageous uses of the steam-hammer, we are primarily and mainly
indebted to Mr. Nasmyth. It is but right, therefore, that we should
hold his name in honour. In fact, when we think of the universal
service which this machine is rendering us, we feel that some special
expression of our indebtedness to him would be a reasonable and
grateful service. The benefit which he has conferred upon us is so
great as to justly entitle him to stand side by side with the few men
who have gained name and fame as great inventive engineers, and to
whom we have testified our gratitude--usually, unhappily, when it
was too late for them to enjoy it."

Mr. Nasmyth subsequently applied the principle of the steam-hammer in
the pile driver, which he invented in 1845. Until its production, all
piles had been driven by means of a small mass of iron falling upon
the head of the pile with great velocity from a considerable height,
-- the raising of the iron mass by means of the "monkey" being an
operation that occupied much time and labour, with which the results
were very incommensurate. Pile-driving was, in Mr. Nasmyth's words,
conducted on the artillery or cannon-ball principle; the action being
excessive and the mass deficient, and adapted rather for destructive
than impulsive action. In his new and beautiful machine, he applied
the elastic force of steam in raising the ram or driving block, on
which, the block being disengaged, its whole weight of three tons
descended on the head of the pile, and the process being repeated
eighty times in the minute, the pile was sent home with a rapidity
that was quite marvellous compared with the old-fashioned system. In
forming coffer-dams for the piers and abutments of bridges, quays,
and harbours, and in piling the foundations of all kinds of masonry,
the steam pile driver was found of invaluable use by the engineer. At
the first experiment made with the machine, Mr. Nasmyth drove a
14-inch pile fifteen feet into hard ground at the rate of 65 blows a
minute. The driver was first used in forming the great steam dock at
Devonport, where the results were very striking; and it was shortly
after employed by Robert Stephenson in piling the foundations of the
great High Level Bridge at Newcastle, and the Border Bridge at
Berwick, as well as in several other of his great works. The saving
of time effected by this machine was very remarkable, the ratio being
as 1 to 1800; that is, a pile could be driven in four minutes that
before required twelve hours. One of the peculiar features of the
invention was that of employing the pile itself as the support of the
steam-hammer part of the apparatus while it was being driven, so that
the pile had the percussive action of the dead weight of the hammer
as well as its lively blows to induce it to sink into the ground. The
steam-hammer sat as it were on the shoulders of the pile, while it
dealt forth its ponderous blows on the pile-head at the rate of 80 a
minute, and as the pile sank, the hammer followed it down with never
relaxing activity until it was driven home to the required depth. One
of the most ingenious contrivances employed in the driver, which was
also adopted in the hammer, was the use of steam as a buffer in the
upper part of the cylinder, which had the effect of a recoil spring,
and greatly enhanced the force of the downward blow.

In 1846, Mr. Nasmyth designed a form of steam-engine after that of
his steam-hammer, which has been extensively adopted all over the
world for screw-ships of all sizes. The pyramidal form of this
engine, its great simplicity and GET-AT-ABILITY of parts, together
with the circumstance that all the weighty parts of the engine are
kept low, have rendered it a universal favourite. Among the other
labour-saving tools invented by Mr. Nasmyth, may be mentioned the
well-known planing machine for small work, called "Nasmyth's Steam
Arm," now used in every large workshop. It was contrived for the
purpose of executing a large order for locomotives received from the
Great Western Railway, and was found of great use in accelerating the
work, especially in planing the links, levers, connecting rods, and
smaller kinds of wrought-iron work in those engines. His circular
cutter for toothed wheels was another of his handy inventions, which
shortly came into general use. In iron-founding also he introduced a
valuable practical improvement. The old mode of pouring the molten
metal into the moulds was by means of a large ladle with one or two
cross handles and levers; but many dreadful accidents occurred
through a slip of the hand, and Mr. Nasmyth resolved, if possible, to
prevent them. The plan he adopted was to fix a worm-wheel on the side
of the ladle, into which a worm was geared, and by this simple
contrivance one man was enabled to move the largest ladle on its axis
with perfect ease and safety. By this means the work was more
promptly performed, and accidents entirely avoided.

Mr. Nasmyth's skill in invention was backed by great energy and a
large fund of common sense--qualities not often found united. These
proved of much service to the concern of which he was the head, and
indeed constituted the vital force. The firm prospered as it
deserved; and they executed orders not only for England, but for most
countries in the civilized world. Mr. Nasmyth had the advantage of
being trained in a good school--that of Henry Maudslay--where he
had not only learnt handicraft under the eye of that great mechanic,
but the art of organizing labour, and (what is of great value to an
employer) knowledge of the characters of workmen. Yet the Nasmyth
firm were not without their troubles as respected the mechanics in
their employment, and on one occasion they had to pass through the
ordeal of a very formidable strike. The manner in which the inventor
of the steam-hammer literally "Scotched" this strike was very
characteristic.

A clever young man employed by the firm as a brass founder, being
found to have a peculiar capacity for skilled mechanical work, had
been advanced to the lathe. The other men objected to his being so
employed on the ground that it was against the rules of the trade.
"But he is a first-rate workman," replied the employers, "and we
think it right to advance a man according to his conduct and his
merits." "No matter," said the workmen, "it is against the rules, and
if you do not take the man from the lathe, we must turn out." "Very
well; we hold to our right of selecting the best men for the best
places, and we will not take the man from the lathe." The consequence
was a general turn out. Pickets were set about the works, and any
stray men who went thither to seek employment were waylaid, and if
not induced to turn back, were maltreated or annoyed until they were
glad to leave. The works were almost at a standstill. This state of
things could not be allowed to go on, and the head of the firm
bestirred himself accordingly with his usual energy. He went down to
Scotland, searched all the best mechanical workshops there, and after
a time succeeded in engaging sixty-four good hands. He forbade them
coming by driblets, but held them together until there was a full
freight; and then they came, with their wives, families, chests of
drawers, and eight-day clocks, in a steamboat specially hired for
their transport from Greenock to Liverpool. From thence they came by
special train to Patricroft, where houses were in readiness for their
reception. The arrival of so numerous, well-dressed, and respectable
a corps of workmen and their families was an event in the
neighbourhood, and could not fail to strike the "pickets" with
surprise. Next morning the sixty-four Scotchmen assembled in the yard
at Patricroft, and after giving "three cheers," went quietly to their
work. The "picketing" went on for a little while longer, but it was
of no use against a body of strong men who stood "shouther to
shouther," as the new hands did. It was even bruited about that there
were more trains to follow!" It very soon became clear that the back
of the strike was broken. The men returned to their work, and the
clever brass founder continued at his turning-lathe, from which he
speedily rose to still higher employment.

Notwithstanding the losses and suffering occasioned by strikes, Mr.
Nasmyth holds the opinion that they have on the whole produced much
more good than evil. They have served to stimulate invention in an
extraordinary degree. Some of the most important labour-saving
processes now in common use are directly traceable to them. In the
case of many of our most potent self-acting tools and machines,
manufacturers could not be induced to adopt them until compelled to
do so by strikes. This was the ease with the self-acting mule, the
wool-combing machine, the planing machine, the slotting machine,
Nasmyth's steam arm, and many others. Thus, even in the mechanical
world, there may be "a soul of goodness in things evil."

Mr. Nasmyth retired from business in December, 1856. He had the moral
courage to come out of the groove which he had so laboriously made
for himself, and to leave a large and prosperous business, saying, "I
have now enough of this world's goods; let younger men have their
chance." He settled down at his rural retreat in Kent, but not to
lead a life of idle ease. Industry had become his habit, and active
occupation was necessary to his happiness. He fell back upon the
cultivation of those artistic tastes which are the heritage of his
family. When a boy at the High School of Edinburgh, he was so skilful
in making pen and ink illustrations on the margins of the classics,
that he thus often purchased from his monitors exemption from the
lessons of the day. Nor had he ceased to cultivate the art during his
residence at Patricroft, but was accustomed to fall back upon it for
relaxation and enjoyment amid the pursuits of trade. That he
possesses remarkable fertility of imagination, and great skill in
architectural and landscape drawing, as well as in the much more
difficult art of delineating the human figure, will be obvious to any
one who has seen his works,--more particularly his "City of St.
Ann's," "The Fairies," and "Everybody for ever!" which last was
exhibited in Pall Mail, among the recent collection of works of Art
by amateurs and others, for relief of the Lancashire distress. He has
also brought his common sense to bear on such unlikely subject's as
the origin of the cuneiform character. The possession of a brick from
Babylon set him a thinking. How had it been manufactured? Its under
side was clearly marked by the sedges of the Euphrates upon which it
had been laid to dry and bake in the sun. But how about those curious
cuneiform characters? How had writing assumed so remarkable a form?
His surmise was this: that the brickmakers, in telling their tale of
bricks, used the triangular corner of another brick, and by pressing
it down upon the soft clay, left behind it the triangular mark which
the cuneiform character exhibits. Such marks repeated, and placed in
different relations to each other, would readily represent any
number. From the use of the corner of a brick in writing, the
transition was easy to a pointed stick with a triangular end, by the
use of which all the cuneiform characters can readily be produced
upon the soft clay. This curious question formed the subject of an
interesting paper read by Mr. Nasmyth before the British Association
at Cheltenham.

But the most engrossing of Mr. Nasmyth's later pursuits has been the
science of astronomy, in which, by bringing a fresh, original mind to
the observation of celestial phenomena, he has succeeded in making
some of the most remarkable discoveries of our time. Astronomy was
one of his favourite pursuits at Patricroft, and on his retirement
became his serious study. By repeated observations with a powerful
reflecting telescope of his own construction, he succeeded in making
a very careful and minute painting of the craters, cracks, mountains,
and valleys in the moon's surface, for which a Council Medal was
awarded him at the Great Exhibition of 1851. But the most striking
discovery which he has made by means of big telescope--the result
of patient, continuous, and energetic observation--has been that of
the nature of the sun's surface, and the character of the
extraordinary light-giving bodies, apparently possessed of voluntary
motion, moving across it, sometimes forming spots or hollows of more
than a hundred thousand miles in diameter.

The results of these observations were of so novel a character that
astronomers for some time hesitated to receive them as facts.*
[footnote...
See Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,
3rd series, vol.1. 407.
...]
Yet so eminent an astronomer as Sir John Herschel does not hesitate
now to describe them as "a most wonderful discovery." "According to
Mr. Nasmyth's observations," says he, "made with a very fine
telescope of his own making, the bright surface of the sun consists
of separate, insulated, individual objects or things, all nearly or
exactly of one certain definite size and shape, which is more like
that of a willow leaf, as he describes them, than anything else.
These leaves or scales are not arranged in any order (as those on a
butterfly's wing are), but lie crossing one another in all
directions, like what are called spills in the game of spillikins;
except at the borders of a spot, where they point for the most part
inwards towards the middle of the spot,*
[footnote...
Sir John Herschel adds, "Spots of not very irregular, and what may be
called compact form, covering an area of between seven and eight
hundred millions of square miles, are by no means uncommon. One spot
which I measured in the year 1837 occupied no less than three
thousand seven hundred and eighty millions, taking in all the
irregularities of its form; and the black space or nucleus in the
middle of one very nearly round one would have allowed the earth to
drop through it, leaving a thousand clear miles on either side; and
many instances of much larger spots than these are on record."
...]
presenting much the sort of appearance that the small leaves of some
water-plants or sea-weeds do at the edge of a deep hole of clear
water. The exceedingly definite shape of these objects, their exact
similarity one to another, and the way in which they lie across and
athwart each other (except where they form a sort of bridge across a
spot, in which case they seem to affect a common direction, that,
namely, of the bridge itself),--all these characters seem quite
repugnant to the notion of their being of a vaporous, a cloudy, or a
fluid nature. Nothing remains but to consider them as separate and
independent sheets, flakes, or scales, having some sort of solidity.
And these flakes, be they what they may, and whatever may be said
about the dashing of meteoric stones into the sun's atmosphere, &c.,
are evidently THE IMMEDIATE SOURCES OF THE SOLAR LIGHT AND HEAT, by
whatever mechanism or whatever processes they may be enabled to
develope and, as it were, elaborate these elements from the bosom of
the non-luminous fluid in which they appear to float. Looked at in
this point of view, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of
some peculiar and amazing kind; and though it would be too daring to
speak of such organization as partaking of the nature of life, yet we
do know that vital action is competent to develop heat and light, as
well as electricity. These wonderful objects have been seen by others
as well as Mr. Nasmyth, so that them is no room to doubt of their
reality."*
[footnote...
SIR JOHN HERSCHEL in Good Words for April, 1863.
...]

Such is the marvellous discovery made by the inventor of the
steam-hammer, as described by the most distinguished astronomer of
the age. A writer in the Edinburgh Review, referring to the subject
in a recent number, says it shows him "to possess an intellect as
profound as it is expert." Doubtless his training as a mechanic, his
habits of close observation and his ready inventiveness, which
conferred so much power on him as an engineer, proved of equal
advantage to him when labouring in the domain of physical science.
Bringing a fresh mind, of keen perception, to his new studies, and
uninfluenced by preconceived opinions, he saw them in new and
original lights; and hence the extraordinary discovery above
described by Sir John Herschel.

Some two hundred years since, a member of the Nasmyth family, Jean
Nasmyth of Hamilton, was burnt for a witch--one of the last martyrs
to ignorance and superstition in Scotland--because she read her
Bible with two pairs of spectacles. Had Mr. Nasmyth himself lived
then, he might, with his two telescopes of his own making, which
bring the sun and moon into his chamber for him to examine and paint,
have been taken for a sorcerer. But fortunately for him, and still
more so for us, Mr. Nasmyth stands before the public of this age as
not only one of its ablest mechanics, but as one of the most
accomplished and original of scientific observers.

CHAPTER XVI.

WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN.

"In science there is work for all hands, more or less skilled; and he
is usually the most fit to occupy the higher posts who has risen from
the ranks, and has experimentally acquainted himself with the nature
of the work to be done in each and every, even the humblest
department." J. D. Forbes.

The development of the mechanical industry of England has been so
rapid, especially as regards the wonders achieved by the
machine-tools above referred to, that it may almost be said to have
been accomplished within the life of the present generation. "When I
first entered this city, said Mr.Fairbairn, in his inaugural address
as President of the British Association at Manchester in 1861, "the
whole of the machinery was executed by hand. There were neither
planing, slotting, nor shaping machines; and, with the exception of
very imperfect lathes and a few drills, the preparatory operations of
construction were effected entirely by the hands of the workmen. Now,
everything is done by machine-tools with a degree of accuracy which
the unaided hand could never accomplish. The automaton or self-acting
machine-tool has within itself an almost creative power; in fact, so
great are its powers of adaptation, that there is no operation of the
human hand that it does not imitate." In a letter to the author, Mr.
Fairbairn says, "The great pioneers of machine-tool-making were
Maudslay, Murray of Leeds, Clement and Fox of Derby, who were ably
followed by Nasmyth, Roberts, and Whitworth, of Manchester, and Sir
Peter Fairbairn of Leeds; and Mr. Fairbairn might well have added, by
himself,--for he has been one of the most influential and successful
of mechanical engineers.

William Fairbairn was born at Kelso on the 19th of February, 1787.
His parents occupied a humble but respectable position in life. His
father, Andrew Fairbairn, was the son of a gardener in the employment
of Mr. Baillie of Mellerston, and lived at Smailholm, a village lying
a few miles west of Kelso. Tracing the Fairbairns still further back,
we find several of them occupying the station of "portioners," or
small lairds, at Earlston on the Tweed, where the family had been
settled since the days of the Solemn League and Covenant. By his
mother's side, the subject of our memoir is supposed to be descended
from the ancient Border family of Douglas.

While Andrew Fairbairn (William's father) lived at Smailholm, Walter
Scott was living with his grandmother in Smailholm or Sandyknowe
Tower, whither he had been sent from Edinburgh in the hope that
change of air would help the cure of his diseased hip-joint; and
Andrew, being nine years his senior, and a strong youth for his age,
was accustomed to carry the little patient about in his arms, until
he was able to walk by himself. At a later period, when Miss Scott,
Walter's aunt, removed from Smailholm to Kelso, the intercourse
between the families was renewed. Scott was then an Edinburgh
advocate, engaged in collecting materials for his Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border, or, as his aunt described his pursuit, "running
after the auld wives of the country gatherin' havers." He used
frequently to read over by the fireside in the evening the results of
his curious industry, which, however, were not very greatly
appreciated by his nearest relatives; and they did not scruple to
declare that for the "Advocate" to go about collecting "ballants" was
mere waste of time as well as money.

William Fairbairn's first schoolmaster was a decrepit old man who
went by the name of "Bowed Johnnie Ker,"--a Cameronian, with a nasal
twang, which his pupils learnt much more readily than they did his
lessons in reading and arithmetic, notwithstanding a liberal use of
"the tawse." Yet Johnnie had a taste for music, and taught his pupils
to SING their reading lessons, which was reckoned quite a novelty in
education. After a short time our scholar was transferred to the
parish-school of the town, kept by a Mr. White, where he was placed
under the charge of a rather severe helper, who, instead of the
tawse, administered discipline by means of his knuckles, hard as
horn, which he applied with a peculiar jerk to the crania of his
pupils. At this school Willie Fairbairn lost the greater part of the
singing accomplishments which he had acquired under "Bowed Johnnie,"
but he learnt in lieu of them to read from Scott and Barrow's
collections of prose and poetry, while he obtained some knowledge of
arithmetic, in which he proceeded as far as practice and the rule of
three. This constituted his whole stock of school-learning up to his
tenth year. Out of school-hours he learnt to climb the ruined walls
of the old abbey of the town, and there was scarcely an arch, or
tower, or cranny of it with which he did not become familiar.

When in his twelfth year, his father, who had been brought up to
farm-work, and possessed considerable practical knowledge of
agriculture, was offered the charge of a farm at Moy in Ross-shire,
belonging to Lord Seaforth of Brahan Castle. The farm was of about
300 acres, situated on the banks of the river Conan, some five miles
from the town of Dingwall. The family travelled thither in a covered
cart, a distance of 200 miles, through a very wild and hilly country,
arriving at their destination at the end of October, 1799. The farm,
when reached, was found overgrown with whins and brushwood, and
covered in many places with great stones and rocks; it was, in short,
as nearly in a state of nature as it was possible to be. The house
intended for the farmer's reception was not finished, and Andrew
Fairbairn, with his wife and five children, had to take temporary
refuge in a miserable hovel, very unlike the comfortable house which
they had quitted at Kelso. By next spring, however, the new house was
ready; and Andrew Fairbairn set vigorously to work at the reclamation
of the land. After about two years' labours it exhibited an
altogether different appearance, and in place of whins and stones
there were to be seen heavy crops of barley and turnips. The barren
years of 1800 and 1801, however, pressed very hardly on Andrew
Fairbairn as on every other farmer of arable land. About that time,
Andrew's brother Peter, who acted as secretary to Lord Seaforth, and
through whose influence the former had obtained the farm, left Brahan
Castle for the West Indies with his Lordship, who--notwithstanding
his being both deaf and dumb -- had been appointed to the
Governorship of Barbadoes; and in consequence of various difficulties
which occurred shortly after his leaving, Andrew Fairbairn found it
necessary to give up his holding, whereupon he engaged as steward to
Mackenzie of Allengrange, with whom he remained for two years.

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